544. Promise at Dawn

Promise at Dawn
Romain Gary
1960
Around 350 pages

I knew I could trust Romain Gary to get us out of our slump. Romain has been through some shit, and ended up killing himself in his 60s. After everything he had seen and recovered from, I can't help but wonder what was catastrophically different about that moment. In his memoir, he says he always felt at peace with the world when he was eating pickles. Who was in charge of getting this man pickles??

Romain Gary had a smother, who depended on her son for all her happiness and dream fulfillment. She expects Romain to become a master tennis player, a famous violinist, a respected diplomat, and the killer of Adolf Hitler. Romain is driven by the desire to please his mother, which leads him to joining the French air force during World War II. 

I was glad I had read Roots of Heaven prior to this, as he makes several references to the novel and points to areas in his real life where he drew inspiration for Morel. Gary writes with astonishing honesty and caring, which I would imagine is an arduous task with a memoir. He does not villainize or exonerate his mother, or himself. 

Romain Gary is my hero, and gone too soon, like many others on this List.

RATING: *****

Interesting Facts:

After learning that his wife had an affair with Clint Eastwood, Gary challenged him to a duel, but Eastwood declined.

UP NEXT: Rabbit Run by John Updike

511. The Roots of Heaven

The Roots of Heaven
Romain Gary
1956
Around 375 pages

Well, that was unexpected. Based on the title, I was expecting some war drama with a heavy religious themes. Instead, it's a book about elephants, the third noblest creatures on Earth (after giant pandas and platypuses). I did see that this was adapted into an unsuccessful movie in 1958. I can only imagine how offensive that was.

There's an outlaw on the loose in French Equatorial Africa. Morel, a survivor of a concentration camp, is a Frenchman on a crusade to save the elephants from hunters. If it were possible to marry a literary character, Morel might just be the one (he can duel with Mr. Darcy over my affections). Morel is a headache to the higher ups, who cynically believe that Morel cares little about elephants and is merely using them as a symbol. Like any good outlaw, he makes the men angry and the women swoon.

Hunting is unfathomable to me, and of course, reading about the ivory trade was immensely upsetting. But as several characters point out, you can't have a modern country with elephants walking around. Of course, I don't care about that, I just want a baby elephant to try to sit on me because it doesn't realize how heavy it is.

Romain Gary sounds like he was a real bad ass during the War. Of course, this is a white man savior type story, but I think intention and context matter here. I think having a World War II survivor wage this battle is poignant, and I appreciated that the characters weren't blind to the metaphor in-universe.

A surprisingly good read, I always love it when they sneak up on me like that.

RATING: ****-

Interesting Facts:

Huston later said of the film adaptation that it "could have been a very fine film. And largely owing to me was not a good film at all."

UP NEXT: The Floating Opera by John Barth